Friends of ZooWorld promoting appreciation day

Published: Sunday, January 27, 2013 at 05:35 PM.

Halvorson said Friends of ZooWorld will be holding fundraising events and working with the zoo to increase their marketing presence and grant-writing.

“We’re tremendously excited,” Willard-Sinnett said.

The zoo is an important part of the local community, Halvorson said.

“I grew up here. I remember what it was like before we had ZooWorld,” she said adding that locals had to travel to a much larger city or go to the circus to see exotic animals. She added ZooWorld was a vital tool for education. There is a huge difference between hearing about something in the classroom and experiencing it at a zoo, Halvorson said.

ZooWorld Appreciation Day is Feb. 9. Admission is $5. Showing up and showing your support will be enough to lift spirits, Halvorson said.

Giving the animal caretakers love and support and possibly a tasty treat is the idea behind ZooWorld Appreciation Day and the event’s sponsor Friends of ZooWorld.

Monica Halvorson, the director and one of the founders of Friends of ZooWorld said the nonprofit zoo needs support from the community.

“Draw a picture, write a nice little note, bake some cookies, spend some $ in the gift shop ... Just show up!” she wrote in a news release. “We want the staff to know how much they are loved by this community!”

The new community support group is a response to the negative comments made by some after the zoo’s giraffe died. ZooWorld replaced the giraffe with two new baby giraffes and keeps them in a 5,000 square foot enclosure. Tom Walling, the assistant director of the zoo, said the enclosure is three times larger than the normal recommended size.

However, zoo officials would increase the size of that enclosure and do more with the other enclosures if they had the funds, according to Walling and Stephanie Willard-Sinnett, ZooWorld’s director of education.

“We can certainly do more with what we have,” Willard-Sinnett said. She added that ZooWorld employees don’t work at a nonprofit for anything other than love of the animals.

“This isn’t what you do; it’s who you are,” she added.

Halvorson said Friends of ZooWorld will be holding fundraising events and working with the zoo to increase their marketing presence and grant-writing.

“We’re tremendously excited,” Willard-Sinnett said.

The zoo is an important part of the local community, Halvorson said.

“I grew up here. I remember what it was like before we had ZooWorld,” she said adding that locals had to travel to a much larger city or go to the circus to see exotic animals. She added ZooWorld was a vital tool for education. There is a huge difference between hearing about something in the classroom and experiencing it at a zoo, Halvorson said.

ZooWorld Appreciation Day is Feb. 9. Admission is $5. Showing up and showing your support will be enough to lift spirits, Halvorson said.